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- saltando: bouncing the bow as in a
staccato arpeggio, literally
means "jumping"
- sanft (Ger):
gently
- scatenato: unchained, wildly[5]
- scherzando, scherzoso:
playfully
- scherzo: a light, "joking" or
playful musical form, originally and usually in fast triple
metre, often replacing the minuet in
the later Classical period and
the Romantic period, in
symphonies, sonatas, string quartets and the like; in the 19th century some
scherzi were independent movements for piano, etc.
- schleppen (Ger):
to drag; usually nicht
schleppen ("don't drag"),
paired with nicht eilen("don't
hurry") in Gustav Mahler's scores
- schnell (Ger):
fast
- schneller (Ger):
faster
- schwungvoll (Ger):
lively, swinging, bold, spirited
- scordatura: out of tune; i.e., an
alternative tuning used
for the strings of
a string instrument
- secco, or sec (Fr):
dry
- segno:
sign, usually Dal Segno (see
above) "from the sign", indicating a return to the point marked by
- segue: carry on to the next
section without a pause
- sehr (Ger):
very
- semitone: the smallest pitch
difference between notes (in most Western music) (e.g., F–F#)
- semplice: simply
- sempre: always
- senza: without
- senza misura: without measure
- senza sordina, or senza
sordine (plural):
without the mute; compare con
sordina in this list; see
also Sordino. Note: sordina,
with plural sordine, is
strictly correct Italian, but the forms con
sordino and con
sordini are much more
commonly used as terms in music. In piano music (notably in Beethoven's Moonlight
Sonata), senza sordini or senza
sordina (or some variant) is
sometimes used to mean keep
the sustain pedal depressed,
since the sustain pedal lifts the dampers off the strings, with the effect
that all notes are sustained indefinitely.
- serioso: seriously
- sforzando or sfz:
made loud; i.e., a sudden strong accent
- shake: a jazz term describing a
trill between one note and its minor third; or, with brass instruments,
between a note and its next overblown harmonic.
- sharp: a symbol (♯)
that raises the pitch of the note by a semitone. The term may also be used
as an adjective to describe a situation where a singer or musician is
performing a note in which the intonation is an eighth or a quarter of a
semitone too high in pitch.
- short accent: Hit the note hard
and short . (^)
- si (Fr):
seventh note of the series ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si, in fixed-doh solmization.
- siciliana: a Sicilian dance
in 12/8 or 6/8 meter[6]
- sign: see segno
- silenzio: silence; i.e., without
reverberations
- simile: similarly; i.e., continue
applying the preceding directive, whatever it was, to the following passage
- sipario: curtain (stage)
- slargando or slentando:
becoming broader or slower (that is, becoming more largo or
more lento)
- smorzando or smorz.:
extinguishing or dampening; usually interpreted as a drop in dynamics, and
very often in tempo as well
- soave: smoothly, gently
- sopra: above
- sognando: dreamily
- solo break: a jazz term that
instructs a lead player or rhythm
section member to play an
improvised solo cadenza for
one or two measures (sometimes abbreviated as "break"), without any
accompaniment. The solo part is often played in a rhythmically free manner,
until the player performs a pickup or lead-in line, at which time the band
recommences playing in the original tempo.
- solenne: solemn
- solo, plural soli:
alone; i.e., executed by a single instrument or voice. The instruction solirequires
more than one player or singer; in a jazz big
band this refers to an entire
section playing in harmony.
- sonata: a piece played as
opposed to sung.
- sonatina: a little sonata
- sonatine: a little sonata, used in
some countries instead of sonatina
- sonore: sonorous
- soprano: the highest of the
standard four voice ranges (bass, tenor, alto, soprano)
- sordina, sordine (plural):
a mute, or a damper in
the case of the piano. Note: sordina,
with plural sordine, is
strictly correct Italian, but the forms sordino and sordini are
much more commonly used as terms in music. See also con
sordina, senza sordina,
in this list.
- sordino: see sordina,
above
- sospirando: sighing
- sostenuto: sustained, lengthened
- sotto voce: in an undertone i.e.
quietly
- spiccato: distinct, separated;
i.e., a way of playing the violin and other bowed instruments by bouncing
the bow on the string, giving a characteristic staccato effect
- spinto
- spiritoso: spiritedly
- staccato: making each note brief
and detached; the opposite of legato. In musical
notation, a small dot under or over the head of the note indicates that it
is to be articulated as staccato.
- stanza: a verse of a song
- stornello originally
truly 'improvised' now taken as 'appearing to be improvised,' an Italian
'folk' song, the style of which used for example by Puccini in certain of
his operas.
- strepitoso: noisy
- stretto: tight, narrow; i.e.,
faster or hastening ahead; also, a passage in a fugue in
which the contrapuntal texture
is denser, with close overlapping entries of the subject in different
voices; by extension, similar closely imitative passages in other
compositions
- stringendo: tightening, narrowing;
i.e., with a pressing forward or acceleration of the tempo (that is,
becoming stretto, see
preceding entry)
- subito: suddenly (e.g., subito
pp, which instructs the player to suddenly drop topianissimo as
an effect)
- sul E: "on E", indicating a
passage is to be played on the E string of a violin. Also seen:sul A, sul
D, sul G, sul
C, indicating a passage to be played on one of the other strings of a
string instrument.
- sul ponticello:
on the bridge; i.e., in string playing, an indication to bow (or
sometimes topluck) very near to the bridge,
producing a characteristic glassy sound, which emphasizes the higher harmonics at
the expense of the fundamental;
the opposite of sul tasto
- sul tasto: on the fingerboard;
i.e., in string playing, an indication to bow (or
sometimes topluck) over the fingerboard;
the opposite of sul ponticello.
Playing over the fingerboard produces a warmer, gentler tone.
- sur la touche (Fr):
sul tasto
- syncopation: a disturbance or
interruption of the regular flow of downbeat rhythm with emphasis on the
sub-division or up-beat, e.g. in Ragtime music.
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